January 20th
Card Captor Sakura volume 7 – progress report
Yesterday: Continued up to page 38.
Today: Finsihed chapter 27 and chapter 28, continued up to page 128.
Had some time right now. Didn’t plan on reading that much but once I had started, I just kept going. 
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Word or expression of the day:
片付け - (かたづけ) - tidying up, finishing
Honourable mention(s):
緊張 - (きんちょう) - tension, mental strain, nervousness
January 19
Finished 2 ユージニア chapters (one of them was really short)(59% → 63%) and started the 3rd chapter of BU$TAFELLOWS, played about 45 min.
20th jan
蟲師 vol 3!! chapter one was a quick read this time, partly cos one of the main characters was unable to speak so there was less dialogue in general. a very folk-tale-y one, set in the mountains with a mysterious illness that affects everyone in the village and they’re blaming it on one of the girls, starting off on a not-depressing note for once! also love how ginko was absolutely playing matchmaker during this chapter, he’s a fun-loving guy when he gets the chance
words that stuck out: 錆 (さび, rust. you ever want this word to sink in, read this chapter), 空耳 (そらみみ, mishearing), 方角 (ほうがく, (cardinal) direction, way), and today’s what’s that kanji moment: 聲 which is an old version of 声
what a weird coincidence! partway through this chapter a character sends a short letter, but cos she doesn’t know how to write (but wants to do it herself) i assume ginko teaches her how to do it in katakana instead, cos it came out like this:
ハナスト オマエモ ヤマイニナル…イママデ ゴメン アリガトウ
i’ve added spaces where it goes to a new speech bubble
interesting little detail i think!
Day 19: January 19th 
名探偵コナン Volume 13 (44% ➨ 48%)
Hopefully I can pick up the pace on reading a bit over the weekend…
Day 19 Progress:
スロー ループ - 25話
Bad health habits have finally caught up to me and I’ve been violently ill all day. Don’t think I’ll be doing much reading for the next few days.
Word of the Day:
The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den
January 20th
新書太閣記 progress: 02.99% // Volume I: 34.61% 
It’s great how much personality Yoshikawa gives the samurai, the emotion really comes across in the speech. I wanted to read more, but don’t have anymore time today.
甥「おい」ー Nephew
奇策縦横「きさくじゅうおう」ー Ingenious scheme
鞴「ふいご」ー Pair of bellows
工夫「くふう」ー Devising a way; inventing; thinking up
Forms
肚 ＝ 腹「はら」(Stomach)
兇暴 ＝ 凶暴「きょうぼう」(Ferocious; savage)
Probably some spoilers, but this is a historic novel, so can spoilers really exist for things that have (for the most part) actually happened 
Main
Hideyoshi: 豊臣秀吉「とよとみ ひでよし」
– – – Childhood name: 日吉「ひよし」
– – – Childhood nickname: 猿「さる」
Volume I: 1535 - 15??
日吉「ひよし」- Hideyoshi (as child)
Nickname: 猿「さる」
Family
木下弥右衛門「きのした やえもん」- Father
筑阿弥「ちくあみ」ー Step-father
大政所「おおまんどころ」// also お奈加「おなか」ー Mother
おつみ - Older sister
小竹「こちく」- Baby brother
加藤清正「かとう きよまさ」// also 弾正「だんじょう」- Ojisan (only distantly related (before marriage))
– Married to: おえつ (sister of お奈加)
Friends & Acquaintances
仁王「におう」- Big kid friend
於福「おふく」(Nickname - full name: 福太郎「ふくたろ」) // 楊景福「ようけいふく」(Chinese name/birth name) - Timid kid friend (older than Hideyoshi)
– 五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Chinese name) - Father
– 梨琴「りきん」- Mother
捨次郎「すてじろう」- Previous servant to 五郎, later the adoptive father of 於福, and owner of a tea ware shop - and employer of, and master to, Hideyoshi
Others
織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」- Daimyo
– 織田与三郎「おだ よさぶろう」- Younger brother
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo
斯波義統「しば よしむね」- Daimyo (head of the Shiba clan) at Kiyosu castle
Hachisuka Clan
蜂須賀小六「はちすか ころく」(also 正勝 「まさかつ」) - Head of the Hachisuka clan
– Married to 松波「まつなみ」
– – 亀一「かめいち」ー Son
Retainers:
– – 稲田大炊助「いなだ おおいのすけ]
– – 青山新七「あおやま しんしち」
– – 長井半之丞「ながい はんのじょう」
– – 松原内匠「まつばら たくみ」
– 渡辺天蔵「わたなべ てんぞう」- Nobushi (Nephew to Koroku)
– 国吉「くによし」ー Gunsmith/blacksmith
阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (around 700AD)
白楽天「はく きょい」ー Late 700s Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan.
道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (Early to mid 1200s) (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」)
空海「くうかい」ー The one and only Kukai or Kobo Daishi - a Buddhist monk. Posthumously given the title of: 弘法大師「こうぼう だいし」born as: 佐伯 眞魚「さえき の まお」(late 700s to early 800s)
源頼政「みなもと の よりまさ」ー Prominent poet and warrior (1100s)
Jan 20, Fri of Week 4 of Winter Q1 2023
Working in 異世界 and new odd (?) comrades.
January 19 
チュベローズで待ってる AGE32 , 14-26%
January 20
チュベローズで待ってる AGE32 , 26-36%
This second volume hasn’t won me over the way the first one did yet, and I’m already 1/3 in. Will things get better? I’m thinking of mixing it up and reading something else tomorrow, but I’m afraid I’ll be reluctant to come back to it. And I do want to finish it, the sooner the better. Decisions.
January 20
Home Post
BU$TAFELLOWS 
I finally finished chapter 1! 
But with so little read I felt compelled to start chapter 2 too, totally forgetting that Orange starts up again tomorrow. Should have just started that early. xD
I might get to some English novel reading too, but time is running away from me and I need to get to bed on time today. I had to sleep 9,5 hours to not be exhausted today, and I’d rather make sure to definitely have 8 hours and not get into more sleep deficit.
Seems my body is still either a bit jetlaggy or decided for other reasons it WANTS sleep. 
This specific situation definitely feels like one of those emphasis times. xD
Dang, I wonder when I can get back to Sailor moon… 
If it happens before summer then I’ve thrown out my current reading plan.
Home post // Jan 20
・ 本好きの下克上 16 (87% → 100%)
Finished Honzuki 16 
It didn’t end on a cliffhanger, so I’m thinking about taking a break from Honzuki so I can continue other series like Kusuriya (and the book clubs I’ve been neglecting 
)
Weekend! My eyes are closed and ready for sleep already 
Day 19
I finished the third volume of Bakemonogatari. This volume was the best until now I love like the finally brought Mayoi home. It was such a beautiful scene.
1615 pages read 18385 to go
softlyraining’s snowy book stack 
January 17th ・ January 18th ・ January 19th ・ January 20th
授乳 (33% → 35%)
I didn’t read this 授乳 for all the days listed (Satori Reader helped keep the streak alive). Still, it was a difficult several days for me, and I’m pleased I made it into orange square territory for this book (and finished week 6 of the old book club thread!). I don’t think the struggle is because of a lack of interest; the current short story I’m on (コイビト) has me intrigued, especially with the little girl character. I think I get tired by the end of the day, and when faced with just vegging out or reading, I end up wanting to veg. 
January 20th!
Today I read chapter 40 of Happiness. It was the final chapter of Volume 8.
Only read a bit yesterday, suspect today will be similar.
20/1 3 pages 夜カフェ, 4 pages シャドーハウス
But then I have a mammoth plane ride home.
１月２０日 (Home Post Link)
Busy day for irl stuff, but also still trying to take it a little easy
Read:
no new words!
I read the first 3 chapters of チュベローズ Age32 on the plane and napped the rest of it (hungover ). Not really feeling this second book, but excited to wrap ユージニア soon (tomorrow?) and then start on the next 半落ち assignment. Might just have Age32 as a ‘when I need something low brain power’ book.
Also who knows, maybe it will surprise me and I’ll just end up binging the second half again 
January 19th
Again, just did Aomi speaking practice.
January 20th
What did I read?: 魔女と猫の話
How much did I read?: 16 pages
(Finished 1st Story )
How long did it take me?: 2 h 40 min
I finished the first story in this manga! 
That was one very long reading session… It was a bit much doing all that at once, but I felt really determined to finish this story after missing two days of reading this week.
We finally learned the adorable kitty’s name! 白羽! A bit of an odd name for a cat with some spots, but I suppose Suzu is trying to focus on the qualities she likes in him by naming him that? 
But anyways, I thought this story was very cute, and it was even sometimes funny or surprising.
Look at his cute, little staring face! 
Just a very sweet, little meow~
And yet another funny face from this kitty! He’s feeling disgruntled about having to take a walk.
Okay, I will try to get them scanned sometime this weekend~ 
January 20 Home Post
Today was a sleepy day so I just read a few pages of ノッキンオン・ロックドドア before my brain gave out hopefully I can get more reading in tomorrow!
Home 
January 20th
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険7
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Crazy Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak or whatever the name is
24 pages of that
Got too distracted later to read the main story
I wanted to read a light novel that I could safely conclude with one volume, so I started reading わたしの幸せな結婚. I’ve also been meaning to read some of the manga I’ve “bought” when Amazon has had sales where the first 1-3 volumes are free, so I read one yesterday and two today.
I bought this book a few years ago when it was deeply discounted, and I’ve been meaning to read it since it was popular and Naphthalene had recommended it. I started it last week and…I don’t really like it so far . In fact, I had to take a break because I felt like if I saw the word 追い出す one more time I might just quit this book forever. I hate quitting books.
Very minor spoilers for something mentioned within the first few pages of chapter 1:
The first third or so felt tedious and boring because the author was rather repetitively leaning into the “downtrodden Cinderella” schtick. Fantasy was teased at the beginning, and it wasn’t until 40% of the way through that they give the bare minimum explanation on what special abilities there are, even though it is constantly emphasized starting around page two in my Kindle app that the main character doesn’t have them. If they had replaced the abilities with juggling and said that juggling was important to the country, and she was sadly a girl without any juggling ability, I don’t think it would have made a bit of difference to the story so far.
I also had a difficult time immersing myself in the world because it wasn’t well-developed and the characters felt flat. The first third pretty much just said what the first few pages did. As a result, it hasn’t been fun to read and I haven’t once had that “I can’t put this down” feeling. I probably could have read the preface and a few pages of the first chapter, skipped 33% in, and not missed anything important.
In spite of this, I’m still going to finish it. Maybe it gets better? I hope so 
. I really want to like it. Sorry to have such a negative review! I was looking forward to a fantasy romance.
If I see a cat-related book for free in an Amazon sale, I’m not going to turn it down. This was a cute manga that spans many, many years about a dragon that is adopted by a cat (technically a cait-sìth) and helps raise its descendants, teaching them how to hunt and use magic. I found the first two stories more engaging that the later ones. Each chapter is loosely connected, but they are still pretty independent from each other since generations sometimes fall in between.
Although there is no furigana, if you read adventure or fantasy books, you won’t have any problems with the vocabulary, and the grammar isn’t difficult.
Someone who really likes cooking might enjoy this, but unfortunately that person is not me. The story was interspersed with 4-5 pages of a character’s internal narration on how to cook various dishes whenever it became dinner time, which I found extremely boring. Imagine reading a recipe book for fun. If that sounds like a good time to you, you might like this manga.
I suppose if you’re trying to work on your food-related vocabulary you might also find it useful, but there is no furigana, so it’s probably not the best pick for a beginner. I got the first two volumes for free in an Amazon sale a while back. I will not be continuing.
